


Personal

by Judgement



Series: Perihelion [2]
Category: Fate/Grand Order, Fate/stay night & Related Fandoms, Fate/stay night - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Mild Blood, Mild Fluff, Minor Canonical Character(s), Minor Violence, Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26523004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judgement/pseuds/Judgement
Summary: There was no vengeance. He was removing all threats that opposed you. It wasn’t personal.
Relationships: Karna | Lancer/Reader
Series: Perihelion [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1928575
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	Personal

Nobody had ever really seen Karna angry before. The generous, soft-spoken soldier and Hero of Charity did as he was instructed. Bore no ill will toward anyone he fought. He did what was asked of him, praised those that deserved it, and spoke only the truth. They had seen him fight, sure, but never like this.

.

The fight had been going on too long, Kotarō wasn’t fairing well against the numerous enemies and Ritsuka—oh god, Ritsuka. 

“Ritsuka!” You called for your friend.

Immediately you turned on your heel, calling the mana that lingered in the air to fuel our movements. The energy responding to your violent call for it, forming visible blue sparks in the air as the world tunneled. You could see the servant rushing toward Ritsuka and you could feel yourself panicking. Twisting both the mana inside of you and out and bending it to your will. Until you were practically gliding across the ground, leaving bright blue sparks of visible magic in your wake.

_They can’t have Ritsuka!_

They couldn’t take humanities’ last master—he was the only one capable of summoning so many servants. You may have been a master, but the world didn’t need _you_ like it needed Ritsuka. 

_No, no, no! No! I won’t make it!_

You wouldn’t be able to intercept the servant, the best you could hope to do was block the attack. 

_Forgive me, Kotarō, but we need Karna._

You willed away your servant, who immediately dropped to a knee and bowed before he disappeared.

“Karna!” You wouldn’t make it, Karna wouldn’t make it. You only had one option—

You tossed yourself in front of Ritsuka and braced for the impact. The pain bloomed in your chest as the sword sunk through your flesh like it had gone through wet paper. The blood comes out like vomit, dripping down your chin in rivulets. 

Your servant has appeared, but he’s frozen in his spot. It feels slow, but maybe that’s just how the pain distorts everything. But you can see Karna’s expression. The subtle twitch of his mouth and eye before something darkens like you’d never seen. The horror setting in, at what he’s just appeared before and witnessed. 

“—save” His eyes flick to the blood on your mouth and his hands ball into fists. A roar of heat blooms in his chest, something he’s never felt before, and the world itself feels like it’s shifting, _bleeding_ with you.

“—suka—” The blade rips from your chest and you crumple to your knees. Ritsuka’s terrified scream is drowned by the screaming roar of blood in Karna’s ears, the maddening thumping of his heart. 

The mana wells up in him and the red that he sees tunnels. The magic ripping into focus and his hand is latching up to his face. The very fabric of time rips, a distorted noise that gives less than a split second of warning before the ray rips from his red eye. Splitting the ground and ripping up the rock like tissue paper to separate the servant from your limp body.

Gilgamesh is there, hauling both Ritsuka and your form away from the destruction that only his eye had unleashed. But it wasn’t enough. The blood from your lips, the light fading from your eyes. All of it seared into his brain, vivid like snap shots behind his eyelids. There was no vengeance. He was removing all threats that opposed you. It wasn’t personal.

 _It was personal._ He would wipe out the servant’s legacy from existence.

.

“Ritsuka! Focus! We need someone that can heal her!” Gil barked the order.

He took a spot in front of his master to separate him from the destructive battle. Ritsuka giving a jerky nod, shaking hands as he called forth the first summon that came to mind. Someone who likely wouldn’t bat an eyelash in the face of a gruesome scene like this.

Nightingale appears and in an instant she’s on her knees, pulling things from the pack at her side and snapping out orders. Apply pressure, she needed to stop the blood flowing, stitch the wound—but if it hit anything internal. 

They needed you back at Chaldea for emergency treatment, _now._

The words are on her lips, the order to call them back to Chaldea. But she stills when the entire sun seems to eclipse for a moment. As if all the heat and energy had been sucked away from the world and into something else. Her eyes snap to the battle and she sucks in a sharp breath. The eye that opens up behind your servant and the impact sends everything flying. 

Nightingale’s first instinct is to cover your motionless body, but thankfully Gilgamesh is there. The Gate of Babylon rips open in a circle around you. Several staves lifting up and connect with gold magic in a language she can’t read. The impact jars the ground beneath, which after a curse from Gil, a sheen of gold magic covers the ground beneath them as well.

The trees are ripped from the ground that crumbles away. Dissolving into the dust that kicks up into the air and blocks everything from sight. Only the small golden barrier the King of Heroes had pulled up remains unaffected. 

“I-Is it over?” Ritsuka’s hands are trembling, his command seals have all been used up. If something goes wrong, if _anything_ goes wrong, he doesn’t know what he can do.

Gil doesn’t respond, eyes narrowing as something approaches. Even as your servant emerges through the ash and dust, Gil can’t help but keep the barrier up. With a flick of the spear Karna wielded like an extension of himself, the dust separates in a fierce gust. 

The field of grass and dirt is nothing but a smoldering pit of lava as far as the eye can see. Everything burnt away within the blast of his Noble Phantasm. He walks forward, mismatched eyes downcast and he reaches out, stopped by the barrier.

And for a moment Karna’s eyes clash with Gil’s but it’s all that’s needed. The uncertainty of whether Karna would inflict the same harm lay beneath the surface. Karna says nothing, instead choosing to step away and keeping his head bowed.

“How is my master?” His voice is quiet. 

His question is drowned out by the demands of Nightingale for an emergency rayshift. The rest is a blur as the lance he wields dissipates in his hand and the rayshift begins, shifting them back to Chaldea’s present.

.

You wake to a burning sensation in your chest and a dying gasp. The rapid beating of your heart against the monitor reminds you that you’re alive, somehow. But everything _hurts,_ and your eyes immediately blur with tears as you clench your jaw and stifle a groan. 

Something shifts from the corner of your eye and you glance, unable to move your head, and see Karna. He leans forward gently, carefully, his hands still holding one of yours. You focus on him, the expressions that flicker across his face subtly. From relief to concern, back to confusion, and you understand that he is unsure of how to express himself.

“I’m okay,” It hurts to say, agonizingly so, but you don’t regret it.

The hard lines on his face lighten and there’s a tension that leaves his body as he slumps by your bed. He brings up your hand, carefully held between both of his, and presses his lips to the back of yours. 


End file.
